Olivia

Play trailer

Olivia

1951

1h 36m

Drama

LGBTQ+

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

11 Reviews

86%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

A girl falls in love with her finishing school headmistress, who feels the same but tries to suppress her desires.

Drew Gregory

Autostraddle

09/10/2021

Olivia is one of the best lesbian films of all time.

Go to Full Review

Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

08/29/2019

It brings to rich emotional life the swirl of influence and passion inside an all-girls boarding school buzzing with sentimental education around its grand central staircase.

Go to Full Review

John DeFore

The Hollywood Reporter

08/15/2019

Feuillere holds the screen in all kinds of ways, conveying the psychology of a woman who understands the effect she has on impressionable girls and wants to wield it for their betterment.

Go to Full Review

Amelie Lasker

FF2 Media

12/28/2020

Olivia is a particularly beautiful watch. Within lavish costumes, bedrooms, and ballrooms, the story is surprisingly intimate.

Go to Full Review

Lauren Humphries-Brooks

Citizen Dame

06/04/2020

It's a study in female relationships, their complexity, and the centralizing of female desire, couched in the form of a complex gothic melodrama that prizes women above all else.

Go to Full Review

Nathanael Hood

Unseen Films

06/03/2020

6/10

Audry's approach [in this film] was primarily mannered-nearly suffocatingly so-occasionally bordering on the naturalistic.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Vitor O

Mar 16

A provocative and very well made movie, one that Hollywood wouldn't dare to produce at that time.

See more

s r

@ScottR 10/11/2020

Studying the complexities of female relationships in a girl's school. A nice piece of French culture and drama. It was well made. It has since been embraced by lesbian movement in its depictions of women and male patriarchy. Saw it on TCM.

See more

08/24/2020

It's an age-old story of a student with a terrible crush on her teacher. Only this student is Olivia at an aristocratic female boarding school in France in the 19th Century and the headmistress is elegant, elusive, and ambivalent in returning Olivia's affection. Shot in luminescent black and white and suffused with female energy, insecurities, affections, affectations, and brilliance, it includes a lovely Christmas scene where ladies dressed as gentlemen dance with ladies. Johnny C. sez check out this daring movie for its time.

See more

juliette c

08/24/2019

i loved the beautiful costumes, setting, and cinematography, as well as the subject matter and performances.

See more

08/21/2019

Z Bm Until a. C. R.

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Jacqueline Audry

Director

Edwige Feuillère

Mlle. Julie

Simone Simon

Mlle. Cara

Yvonne de Bray

Victoire

Suzanne Dehelly

Mlle. Dubois

Danièle Delorme

Une ancienne élève

Caged

50%

83%

Caged

Watchlist

The Children's Hour

78%

84%

The Children's Hour

Watchlist

Suddenly, Last Summer

68%

83%

Suddenly, Last Summer

Watchlist

The Young Philadelphians

71%

81%

The Young Philadelphians

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

A girl falls in love with her finishing school headmistress, who feels the same but tries to suppress her desires.

Director: Jacqueline Audry
Producer: Jacqueline Audry, Jean Paris
Screenwriter: Pierre Laroche
Genre: Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language: Canadian French
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Aug 16, 2019
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 2, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $7.3K
Runtime: 1h 36m

Most Popular at Home Now